Time to Treasure

What have you done with your bonus-day this year?

I know, scientifically speaking, we don’t actually gain an extra day each leap year, because every year is actually measured at 365 and one quarter days. And yet one extra day feels like a gift to me, a bonus 24 hours I get to spend on this wonderful planet that is my home, alongside the people who matter most to me: my family and friends.

Some people may be so sad they may not want to have to endure yet more time in their situation. To you I say, what matter is a single date? You can, and will, find your own way, in your own time. (This kinda sounds glib, but believe me, I’ve been there too. That’s the reason for my book, which started off my blogging.)

Some people may be oblivious to dates, like my relatives with dementia, for whom time moves in a totally different way: a non-linear, fluid way. Chronological time is meaningless for people in this situation, as the present – or the past – comprises all their current life, unchanging. To you I say, enjoy the moments.

And you? Have you valued the extra time and space which is granted once only in a cycle of four years?

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.

That’s why it’s called the present.

This quote is credited to multiple sources including Eleanor Roosevelt, Master Oogway and Bill Keane. It remains a fabulous outlook that encourages me to pause, take stock, and evaluate what is really important – my life in the current moment – for that is as little and as much as I have, at any one time. I use it a lot as I find it inspiring, and I would like to credit its original source, however, that is proving elusive. I’m happy to be corrected by readers more knowledgeable than I am.